Closet Girl's Former Parents Shocked

The last time Bill and Sabrina Kavanaugh
saw Lauren Ashley Calhoun, she was celebrating her second birthday,
an energetic, healthy child who loved the outdoors and movies.

That image, the bittersweet memory of a couple who'd fought to
adopt Lauren, was in sharp contrast to the starving girl law
officers found in a trailer in Hutchins, about 20 miles south of
Dallas.

Lauren was rescued Monday from a filthy, lice-infested closet
where authorities say she'd spent four months locked away from her
mother, stepfather and five siblings. She weighed only 25 pounds,
her stomach was bloated due to malnutrition and her eyes were
sunken in.

The girl's mother, Barbara Catherine Atkinson, 30, and
stepfather, Kenneth Ray Atkinson, 33, were charged Tuesday with
injury to a child and were being held in the Dallas County Jail.

Police said Barbara Atkinson told others that Lauren had an
eating disorder and was staying with a baby sitter.

Judge Returned Lauren to Birth Mother

The Kavanaughs, who live near Canton in northeast Texas, said
they had arranged for a private adoption upon the delivery of
Atkinson's baby and took custody of Lauren at birth on April 13,
1993.

The couple had met Atkinson through a relative. A couple of
months after the birth, Atkinson changed her mind. She demanded
Lauren back.

"She had many, many opportunities before, even after, the baby
was born," Bill Kavanaugh, 62, said Wednesday.

Kavanaugh said the couple retained exclusive rights to Lauren
for about nine months, but the courts limited their visits
thereafter. After eight months of judicial struggles, a second
judge ordered Lauren returned to her birth mother.

"The attorney we used messed up, and we did not obtain paternal
rights," Kavanaugh said. "We fought her in court and lost. We
lost on a technicality."

The Kavanaughs saw Lauren infrequently before Atkinson stopped
returning their calls. She moved and her phone was disconnected.

"We had seen her on her second birthday and that was when we
lost her," Kavanaugh said.

Closet Littered With Human Waste, Soiled Clothing

Police said Lauren spent much of her time in a 4-by-8-foot
closet littered with human waste and soiled clothing. She is a foot
smaller than a child her age and court documents — seeking to
remove the other children from Atkinson's home — stated that she
has a 3-year-old's communication skills.

Lauren was in serious but stable condition early today at
Children's Medical Center of Dallas after undergoing surgery. The
five other children — ages 22 months to 11 years — were placed in
temporary foster care. Police said they did not appear to be
malnourished.

"At times, they were upset, and they knew what they did was
wrong," Landers said.

Dr. Janet Squires, a specialist in abuse cases at Children's
Medical Center, said children abused during their first three years
often face irreversible cognitive damage and below-average
intelligence.

"These kids are probably never going to be as functional and
bright as they could have been," Squires said.

Bill Kavanaugh says the couple would welcome the chance to be
with Lauren again.

"She was a great little baby," Kavanaugh said, looking down to
avoid crying. "I would love to pick her up right now."